Saturday, 1 March 2014

Why vapers should write the law on vaping

It's very clear to us vapers that the parts of the TPD that concerns e-cigarettes is written by people with limited knowledge of vaping, e-cigarettes and e-liquid. I doubt that any vaper was ever close to helping out writing that text and the science that is referenced to support the directive is picked to fit the text, not the other way around like it should be. The EU claims that the directive will make sure that e-cigarettes and vaping is as safe as possible, but as I mentioned yesterday, some of it will actually work the other way around, making it less safe. Less effective equipment, smaller bottles and smaller cartridges will actually lead to more bottles and more cartridges that can get into the hands of children ... or eaten by pets. And then there is the issue of a black market that will thrive as long as restrictions are unreasonable. Why can't they see this?

Yesterday I read some news article where some health authority again was asked about why they want restrictions on e-cigarettes. Don't really remember who or what but it's not that important cause we have all seen this statement a million times by now: "We don't know enough about it yet". As usual I was a bit angry at it at first. But after thinking a bit about it I realize this person was absolutely right. They (the health authorities) don't know enough about it. Seeing how the TPD was written the EU don't know enough about it either. Writing to the Norwegian Cancer Society on Twitter yesterday I tried to ask where they got their information from as well... the answer was: "The EU has calculated this". So the Cancer Society don't know enough about it either. Turns out they were right all the time... they don't know enough about vaping yet.

So who are the experts on vaping then? The answer is pretty obvious: vapers and scientists that has actually done research on vaping. And who are the people that benefits the most, and has the most interest in making vaping as safe as possible? Vapers. Who knows what e-cigarettes are the most effective, and which aspects of vaping that keep people from reverting back to cigarettes? Again... vapers ... of course! This means that to ensure a directive that will make vaping as safe and effective as possible, vapers should be the authors, or at least co-authors, supported by scientists that has done research on vaping. Because vapers are the experts on vaping and e-cigarettes, and it is in their interest to make vaping as safe as possible. But instead the EU has chosen to let Big Tobacco and Big Pharma dictate the directive. That's like having a farmer writing a directive on fishing. I'll leave it up to my readers to make up their own opinions on the reasons the EU has for doing this, but the point is: Vapers should write the law on vaping, simply because they are the experts on vaping.

Do the EU know how these work?

It's very clear to us vapers that the parts of the TPD that concerns e-cigarettes is written by people with limited knowledge of vaping, e-cigarettes and e-liquid. I doubt that any vaper was ever close to helping out writing that text and the science that is referenced to support the directive is picked to fit the text, not the other way around like it should be. The EU claims that the directive will make sure that e-cigarettes and vaping is as safe as possible, but as I mentioned yesterday, some of it will actually work the other way around, making it less safe. Less effective equipment, smaller bottles and smaller cartridges will actually lead to more bottles and more cartridges that can get into the hands of children ... or eaten by pets. And then there is the issue of a black market that will thrive as long as restrictions are unreasonable. Why can't they see this?

Yesterday I read some news article where some health authority again was asked about why they want restrictions on e-cigarettes. Don't really remember who or what but it's not that important cause we have all seen this statement a million times by now: "We don't know enough about it yet". As usual I was a bit angry at it at first. But after thinking a bit about it I realize this person was absolutely right. They (the health authorities) don't know enough about it. Seeing how the TPD was written the EU don't know enough about it either. Writing to the Norwegian Cancer Society on Twitter yesterday I tried to ask where they got their information from as well... the answer was: "The EU has calculated this". So the Cancer Society don't know enough about it either. Turns out they were right all the time... they don't know enough about vaping yet.

So who are the experts on vaping then? The answer is pretty obvious: vapers and scientists that has actually done research on vaping. And who are the people that benefits the most, and has the most interest in making vaping as safe as possible? Vapers. Who knows what e-cigarettes are the most effective, and which aspects of vaping that keep people from reverting back to cigarettes? Again... vapers ... of course! This means that to ensure a directive that will make vaping as safe and effective as possible, vapers should be the authors, or at least co-authors, supported by scientists that has done research on vaping. Because vapers are the experts on vaping and e-cigarettes, and it is in their interest to make vaping as safe as possible. But instead the EU has chosen to let Big Tobacco and Big Pharma dictate the directive. That's like having a farmer writing a directive on fishing. I'll leave it up to my readers to make up their own opinions on the reasons the EU has for doing this, but the point is: Vapers should write the law on vaping, simply because they are the experts on vaping.

14 comments
:

Yes, we are the experts, we vapers. And whatever is "in" ecigs, the most important and relevant thing is what is "not" in ecigs and that is what is saving our lives. This is not rocket science. It is simply fact !!

I only just saw this. Really good post and I agree, nothing about us, without us. My blog post today is along similar lines. I've just gone back into my post, edited in a quote and linked back to you here, I hope you don't mind because I think we're saying the same thing.